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Linguistics Essentials Cheatsheet

A comprehensive guide covering fundamental concepts in linguistics, including phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, pragmatics, and sociolinguistics. This cheat sheet provides concise explanations and examples for students and professionals alike.

Phonetics and Phonology

Phonetic Transcription

/p, b, t, d, k, ɡ/

Plosives (stops) - voiceless and voiced
Example: pat [pæt], bat [bæt]

/f, v, θ, ð, s, z, ʃ, ʒ, h/

Fricatives - varying voicing and place of articulation
Example: fan [fæn], van [væn], thin [θɪn], then [ðɛn]

/m, n, ŋ/

Nasals - articulated through the nose
Example: man [mæn], no [noʊ], sing [sɪŋ]

/l, r/

Approximants - liquids
Example: lap [læp], rap [ræp]

/w, j/

Approximants - glides (semi-vowels)
Example: we [wi], yes [jɛs]

/tʃ, dʒ/

Affricates - combination of stop and fricative
Example: chin [tʃɪn], gin [dʒɪn]

Phonological Processes

Assimilation: A sound becomes more like a nearby sound.
Example: inpossible becomes impossible due to the nasal assimilating to the bilabial stop.

Deletion: A sound is omitted.
Example: handbag is often pronounced hæmbæɡ.

Insertion (Epenthesis): A sound is added.
Example: Athlete is sometimes pronounced as æθəliːt.

Metathesis: Sounds are reordered.
Example: ask is sometimes pronounced æks.

Morphology

Morpheme Types

Free Morphemes

Can stand alone as a word.
Example: cat, run, tree

Bound Morphemes

Cannot stand alone; must be attached to another morpheme.
Example: -ing, -ed, un-

Derivational Morphemes

Change the meaning or part of speech of a word.
Example: -ness (happy → happiness), un- (happy → unhappy)

Inflectional Morphemes

Indicate grammatical function; do not change meaning or part of speech.
Example: -s (cats), -ed (walked)

Morphological Processes

Affixation: Adding prefixes or suffixes to a base form.
Example: un- + happy = unhappy , happy + -ness = happiness

Compounding: Combining two or more free morphemes.
Example: sun + flower = sunflower

Reduplication: Repeating all or part of a word.
Example: mama, papa

Alternation: Changing a sound within a morpheme.
Example: sing → sang → sung

Suppletion: Replacing one morpheme with an unrelated form.
Example: go → went

Syntax

Phrase Structure Rules

S → NP VP (Sentence consists of a Noun Phrase and a Verb Phrase)

NP → (Det) (AdjP) N (PP) (Noun Phrase consists of an optional Determiner, optional Adjective Phrase, Noun, and optional Prepositional Phrase)

VP → V (NP) (PP) (AdvP) (Verb Phrase consists of a Verb, optional Noun Phrase, optional Prepositional Phrase, and optional Adverb Phrase)

PP → P NP (Prepositional Phrase consists of a Preposition and a Noun Phrase)

AdjP → (AdvP) Adj (Adjective Phrase consists of an optional Adverb Phrase and an Adjective)

AdvP → (AdvP) Adv (Adverb Phrase consists of an optional Adverb Phrase and an Adverb)

Syntactic Concepts

Constituency

Groups of words that function as a unit.
Example: ‘the big dog’ is a noun phrase and a constituent.

Ambiguity

When a sentence has multiple possible interpretations.
Example: ‘I saw the man on the hill with a telescope.’

Recursion

The ability of a phrase to contain another phrase of the same type.
Example: ‘The cat that the dog chased meowed.’

Semantics and Pragmatics

Semantic Relations

Synonymy

Words with similar meanings.
Example: happy and joyful

Antonymy

Words with opposite meanings.
Example: hot and cold

Hyponymy

A word whose meaning is included in another word.
Example: dog is a hyponym of animal

Meronymy

A word that is a part of another word.
Example: wheel is a meronym of car

Homonymy

Words that sound alike but have different meanings.
Example: bank (financial institution) and bank (riverbank)

Pragmatic Principles

Grice’s Maxims: Principles guiding cooperative conversation.

Maxim of Quantity: Be as informative as required, but not more.

Maxim of Quality: Try to make your contribution one that is true.

Maxim of Relation: Be relevant.

Maxim of Manner: Be clear, brief, and orderly.

Speech Acts: Actions performed via utterances (e.g., promises, requests).
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